Cross the finish line!

I, as probably everyone of you, consult the almighty google from time to time. Sometimes I just need a synonym, sometimes I need inspiration. And sometimes, I ask google to get advices about writing. There are many helpful articles out there in the deep deep web, but among some flocks of snow-white sheep there is a black one. I happened to surf directly into one of these. Of course, everyone considers another sheep as the black one within the flock, and I do not want to criticize the author or undermine his efforts. But that article (shame on me that I cannot find it anymore) was exactly what I was not looking for. It told its readers, that they would never be ready to publish their book. While I read it, I felt discouraged. I was in the process of publishing my first book, and that expert told me that I would never be ready to do so.

Last week, I proved him wrong. Finally, after years of correction, cover-design and consultation, my first book is on the bookstore’s shelves. Is it perfect? Probably not. Will it be a chart-stormer? Probably not. But do I feel good? Hell yeah! Finally, I can call myself not only a blog author, but also a real book author. It was such a long journey, from when I startet that project eight years ago until now. All this effort piling up to the very final moment when your fingers close around the book, and your nose smells the paper like scent of an unspoiled book filled with your own thoughts and ideas.

The fun thing is, that I do not only feel the joy of seeing that story in the stores. More than joy, I feel relief. Why relief? For almost four years now, I have told others that I was an author, writing books and stories. But in all that time, I have not published a single story. All of that foundation on what my reputation had been built, were short stories or poems that I had written long before my coming-out. Of course, I am still proud of them. But, they are not as complex as a book. And they are old.

Within the last few years, I started more and more projects. I found inspiration everywhere, have ideas for an entire fantasy world, a journey book series, romantic stories for teenagers and a coaching book for parents. I do want to realize all of them, but with a rising amount of ideas and projects, the chances of actually finishing at least one of them shrink drastically. So I started doubting that I could ever finish a thing. I considered myself as a dreamer, but the doer was missing.

It may take a (very) long time, until you get the courage to communicate your ideas or stories. Even if you are ready to shout out your thoughts, you might still hesitate. Getting back to the article from the beginning of this post, let us imagine this example: You want to finish a run, and the finish is 2 kilometers away. With every step, you cover half of the remaining distance. So after one step, there is only one kilometer left. After two steps, only 500 meters, and so on. Following the philosophy of the mentioned article, we could predict your remaining distance by pure numbers, meaning that you would approach your goal even more with every step, but you would never reach it as you can only cover half of the remaining distance.

So let us not over-analyze a situation, a concept or an idea. Our feet have a certain length, so we will not be stuck 0,0666 micrometers before the goal. We will just take another step and cover all of the remaining distance. Because if you keep believing in your conviction, you will find enough strength to do another step and cross the finish line.

So what to take away from this story of a published book? This time, it is only one experience that I have made, and one conclusion that I draw from all of this:

At some point, you have done every preparation that you could think of. You are getting closer and closer to perfection. But there will never be perfection. So if you are satisfied with your work, if you are proud and happy to say “this is what I have done”, just do it. Shout out your idea, and let your voice be heard.

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